The Baby with the Blue Eyes
by shinobipopcorn
Summary: A what-if based on Kozure Kuzuri. A homeless seventeen year old is accused of shoplifting for her infant in the Salem Center mall, and outed as a mutant while trying to escape. After taking her in, the team discover she had been a prisoner for most of her life in an experimentation facility. After escaping, the girl discovered the extent of their experiment... Rated T for Logan ;)
1. Chapter 1

A/N: You know how Marvel has What Ifs and DC has Elseworlds? Well this story is a What If for my other X-Men story "Kozure Kuzuri". What would have happened if Elle didn't escape when Logan had his rampage through the Alkali Lake facility? If that story is Lone Wolf and Cub, this one is more like Kill Bill after the end.

This is mostly a fluff story, so there isn't going to be any violence and it's going to be way shorter. It also has some slight differences with the secondary characters, so assume that **the only characters shared between this story and Kozure are Elle and Logan**. You don't really need to have read Kozure to understand this.

* * *

The mall in Salem Center was busy for April, but that didn't phase the two security guards whose job it was to stop truants from spilling sodas all over the arcade machines. No, instead they were following a peculiar teen they had spotted in a boutique a little earlier.

Teens were their job, but this one was different. A young girl, no more than seventeen, thin as a rail with threadbare clothes. Her dark brown hair was unkempt and shoved back into a haphazard bun, and looked almost as though it hadn't been washed in several days. They'd seen their share of scamps in this mall, it attracted them like a flame attracts moths. What drew them to this one, however, was the little baby the girl carried around.

The girl bounced an infant on her hip as she weaved in an out of several stores. The pattern was rather suspicious- a teenage mother going into shops that were clearly out of her price range, with a cute little distraction in her arms. When the girl emerged from the latest shop with an unbagged baby outfit in her hand, their suspicion was confirmed.

"Hey, you! Hold it right there!" The two guards ran forward and flanked the girl into a corner, making her stop and squeeze her baby tighter to her chest.

"W-what, what did I do?"

"You know what you did, little thief!" the second guard growled, yanking the baby dress out of the girl's hand.

"No, I paid for it!"

"Then why isn't it in a bag?"

The girl trembled. "Cause... I was gonna put it on her. I have a receipt..."

"Yeah, right." The first guard grabbed the girl's arm, but as she struggled to get out of his grip, his faulty watch clasp cut into her skin. The cut immediately healed and disappeared.

"She's a mutie!" The second guard gasped, then moved to grab the baby so the first guard could forcibly restrain her.

Just as the girl started panicking, a woman came up behind the guards and placed a hand over each of their temples. "Gentlemen," she spoke calmly into their ears, "I believe what we have here is a simple misunderstanding. The young lady has shown you her receipt, and you were only seeing things when you scratched her. I suggest you forget this incident, and return to your positions at the arcade."

When the woman released the guards, they turned and left as in a trance. Once they were out of sight, she helped the girl over to a bench and sat with her as she and the baby calmed down. "My, that was quite rude of them. Are you both okay? They didn't hurt you or your baby, did they?"

"Uh, not really," the girl answered, wiping the bit of blood away from her arm. "How did you make them go away?"

"I have telepathic abilities," the woman explained. "I basically made them forget what happened. My name is Jean, what's your name?"

"...I'm Elle, and she's Lilly," she said, pointing to the baby who was currently chewing on her hand. "My daughter."

"There's a strong resemblance," Jean remarked. It was a little hard to tell if they would stay that way, with Lilly being so young, but they both had a thin nose, rounded chin, cute full cheeks, and dark hair. Lilly had pure black hair to her mother's brown, and while Elle had lovely green eyes, Lilly's were a striking cobalt blue. "I love her eye color."

Elle smiled, and rubbed Lilly's head. "Yeah, they're beautiful, aren't they? I wish I knew where she got them from..."

Jean detected a bit of confusion around Elle. "I'm sorry for prying, but..."

"Her father? I don't know, apparently I was already pregnant when I escaped."

"Escaped?!" Jean had to refrain from letting her disturbance show, after all they were in a very public place. She immediately lowered her voice before continuing. "You mean you were held captive?"

"Yes, for many years in some kind of research laboratory. About eleven, I think." The poor girl shrugged, as though it was normal for mutants to be experimented on. "There were many others there, coming and going over the years. My mother and I were both taken when I was four. Unfortunately, she wasn't the same as me, and didn't make it very long."

"Oh my." Jean could only shake her head. "I can only imagine what they planned to do to you, if they were the ones who impregnated you..."

"I must have escaped shortly after they did it, because I didn't figure out what was happening for a while," Elle said with a chuckle. "I just thought I was getting fat."

"Considering the life you've had, I don't blame you for missing your body's clues," Jean hummed in understanding. "Tell me Elle, and be honest, do you have anywhere to stay?"

"...Does 'telepathic' mean you can read minds?"

"I'm guessing that means no," she teased. "I'd like for you and Lilly to come back with me to the school where I live. It's a save haven for people like us, and there are others there that can help you take care of Lilly if you would choose to enroll in classes. The headmaster, Professor Xavier, would not ask any tuition or room and board from you."

Elle was touched. No more running from shelter to shelter, no more worrying someone would come and take Lilly away in the middle of the night. "You... you'd do that for us? You don't care that I'm just another unwed teenage skank with a baby in tow?"

"Elle, that's nonsense," Jean scolded, before urging her up off the bench. "Come on, let's grab you a few things before we head back. You need shoes that close, a car seat, and I don't think there are any diapers at the mansion."

* * *

A/N: Don't worry, I'm still working on Kozure. I'm working on the next chapter right now! Just thought I'd share this in the meantime. :)


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Here's a new chapter, and with it a little more about Elle's backstory. She's the same Elle from the other story up until the point at which the two stories split, so I focused on that.

* * *

"I was fifteen when I managed to escape the experimentation facility where I was held. It took me forever to memorize the inside of the place, and even longer to wait for a power outage to use my improvised lockpick. Then when it happened, I just went with it. I think they realized that after so many years I was no longer a threat, since my only power is that I can heal. I don't know why they wanted me, only that I developed my ability right after I was born. Maybe that was the reason. After I broke out, I hid in the forest nearby until I found train tracks. I stowed away on a train, then just went wherever it took me.

"After a few months I started getting bigger, but I blew it off until people started telling me I was pregnant. I sort of knew what pregnant meant, but I didn't know what to expect or even how it happened in the first place. I went to a library, but I can't really read, so that did me a lot of good. That was in Albany, I think. When I did end up giving birth a year ago, I was outed as a mutant right away because of my healing ability. But worse than that, they weren't going to let me keep Lilly. Since we were both under eighteen I couldn't do anything about it, especially since I'm a mutant, so I decided to run away from the hospital. It was hard smuggling a newborn around, and I admit I had to steal for a while. But I tried not to, instead doing whatever odd jobs I could find. I've been bouncing around ever since."

"My word, those are quite appalling circumstances if I've ever heard so," Professor Xavier confessed, as Elle finished telling her story. Scott, Ororo, and Jean were also present, and the former two were also equally shocked at the young mother's past. Ororo even came forward and hugged Elle, recalling her own experiences living on the streets as a child.

"You agree then, Professor, that Elle and Lilly are welcome to stay?" Jean spoke up.

"Most definitely," Charles replied. "In fact, I insist that you allow our resident physician Hank have a look at the two of you. If only to make sure you didn't pick up anything from living on the streets, that is."

"Oh, alright." Elle looked at Lilly, who had taken to chewing on Elle's hair from boredom. "I guess Lilly will allow that. She gets temperamental sometimes, but seems to be fine now."

"Splendid. Scott, would you see to it that Elle is given a room near yours and Jean's for now? That might be best, in case Elle needs anything. Ororo, I trust since you are the shopper of the team, you will help Elle with fetching any necessary baby supplies?"

"You know I am always proud to spend your funds, Professor," Ororo joked, as she led Elle and Lilly out of the Professor's office.

* * *

"Aww, aren't you just the cutest? Ow, okay, don't pull..."

Lilly laughed as Hank placed her on the scale, all the while pulling on his fur. As far as she was concerned, he was just a big blue teddy bear.

"She's a little underweight, but that's to be expected given the circumstances." Hank made a few notes, then grabbed his pen light. "Okay, time to open up!" Lilly continued laughing whenever Hank looked at her, so he used the opportunity to check her teeth. "I see... it looks like only the four incisors on the top and the two central on the bottom. That's about normal for this stage."

Hank finished his notes, then handed Lilly back to Elle. "All together, I'd say you have a very healthy little one year old girl. You're still breastfeeding her?"

"Yeah, I kinda have to. It's hard enough to feed myself, let alone her," Elle admitted, slightly embarrassed. "I realize she's a little old for it..."

"No, not at all," Hank corrected. "You can breastfeed for as long as you wish to, if her teeth aren't bothering you. Some scholars believe it's actually harder on the child to wean between the thirteenth and eighteenth month period, and some believe that children will wean themselves. It's entirely up to you, though I do recommend that since her teeth are coming in, you start introducing solid foods. I will work up a meal plan."

"That will be nice."

Hank nodded, then flipped to the next page. "I also don't see any evidence of childhood diseases. Do you know if she was ever given any vaccines?"

"Uh yeah, about that..." Elle looked around the med lab, spotting a scalpel tray in a cabinet. "Let me show you something," she said, before pulling the tray out and using the scalpel to make a small knick in her palm. "See how that healed right away? I've always been able to heal quickly, ever since I was a baby. I think she inherited it from me. Obviously I'm not going to cut her to try it out, but I always wondered how she managed to stay healthy despite us being homeless."

"I might be able to help you with that," Hank offered, always up for scientific research. "I would need to draw a blood sample from her, but I can do a genetic test on Lilly, and compare her to your genetic material. It will then tell me if her genetic sequence has the same X-Gene that you do, and if it has already expressed itself. I'll also run a series of vitamin and nutrient tests on the both of you, just to make sure we're not missing anything. But if you're anything like the other fast healer we've encountered, you have nothing to worry about." Hank coughed as he prepped his syringe, a certain cigar chomping mutant coming to mind. He sure hoped Elle wouldn't resemble him too much, especially in the recklessness department.

Elle nodded her consent, and held Lilly steady. "Thank you for your concern, Dr. McCoy. And sorry if Lilly pulled out too much of your hair."

"Oh, it's okay. She's going to hate me soon for this needle pinch, anyway."

* * *

A/N: Thank you to bambino01 for the review, and to those who have followed and favorited so far! I appreciate it!


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: The supporting cajun enters the story! And Hank discovers something he wishes he didn't...

* * *

The next day was rather eventful for the folks at Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters. It was a teaching holiday, so Jean and Ororo got up early to take Elle out shopping, but not before coercing Scott into digging through storage for the mansion's baby furniture. Scott absolutely drew the line at becoming their pack mule for the day; however, a certain sly and charming Cajun happened to overhear the two ladies grumbling about it as they led Elle and Lilly to the car.

" _Pardonnez-moi, mes chères_ , but did Remy hear you are without an escort dis mornin?" Remy popped out from his eavesdropping, wrapping his arms around Jean and Ororo's shoulders. "He be willin' to fix dat..."

"Only if you're willing to carry two new wardrobes and a truckload of diapers, _cher_ ," Ororo replied with a laugh, patting his arm. "I don't think you've met Elle and baby Lilly yet."

" _Non_..." Remy immediately shucked off Jean and 'Ro, then pulled one of Elle's hands to his lips. " _Enchanté, chérie_... Remy LeBeau, at your service. And if you don't mind dis Cajun saying so, you and de little one both have de loveliest eyes he ever seen."

Elle blushed from both the hand-kiss and the compliment, though Jean and Ororo were used to Remy's charm by now and merely rolled their eyes. "Remy is a natural flirt," Jean warned, "sometimes bordering on Lumière levels."

"Remy ain't no talking candle," he snapped back, though from Elle's blank expression they realized she didn't understand the joke. Dropping the subject, he turned his attention to Lilly. "Remy meant it though, she is just about de cutest thing around. Looks like lil' _Blanche-Neige_. Is she your sister?"

"Uh, no. She's my daughter."

Elle braced herself for another reaction, but Remy was calm. She didn't realize that not only did his background as a master thief expose him to all varieties of life situations, but his emphatic abilities allowed him to read her discomfort and react like a gentleman.

"She's very pretty, resembles you a lot," he replied with a grin. "How about we get the four of you into town, so you can spend our fearless leader's money on things he'll complain about? _D'accord?_ "

Meanwhile, as Remy and the girls piled into the van and headed into town to max out Charles' and Scott's credit cards, a very agitated Hank paced back and forth in front of the med bay readout computer. His blood tests had finished running, and came back with some very unexpected results. Elle and Lilly were in perfect health, albeit a little dehydrated, but that wasn't what concerned him.

Hank had checked Lilly's blood against his X-Gene database, to determine if she had any known variations. As Elle had suspected, Lilly had in fact inherited her propensity for early expressed mutation, and shared her regenerative healing factor. Though in the course of running Lilly's DNA through the system, the computer had kicked back a paternal DNA match. It was this paternal DNA match that had Hank mumbling of stars and garters.

Deciding he needed further guidance, Hank cleared away the data and headed up to speak with his good friend and mentor. The Professor invited Hank into his office immediately. "Hank, you look rather white faced. Has something gone wrong?"

"Potentially, my friend," he admitted, easing into a chair and removing his glasses. "Before I go into detail, I need your confidence on this one."

"As always, Henry." The Professor nodded, before offering Hank a cup of tea to calm him.

"I appreciate it, Charles." Hank replaced his glasses and took a sip before continuing. "I gave Elle and Lilly an exam like you requested last night. Took a blood test so I could check that there weren't any biochemicals injected into either of their systems, especially the child's. Also, Elle was curious if Lilly inherited her healing factor, so I ran Lilly's X-Gene against the database to see if she had a match."

"I can see that you are visibly disturbed by what you have found." Charles sat down his cup, before asking, "I will be succinct- do Elle or Lilly pose a threat to the safety of the school?"

"Oh no, of course not!" Hank shook his head, before continuing. "They had no traces of any kind of bioengineering in their systems. My guess would be that if those who impregnated her were going to do something like that, they would either do it after birth, or that Elle just so happened to have escaped before they got around to it. But that's not my problem."

"Does the baby have a terminal disease, or some other health problem?"

"No," Hank answered. "The test showed that Lilly did inherit Elle's healing ability, and has already expressed it. That's how she survived living on the streets without contracting measles or a similar childhood disease. But the damn computer was thorough, and even though I didn't tell it to, it found a paternity match."

The Professor raised an eyebrow. "So you discovered the identity of the father?"

"Not only that, but now that means I know where she was held captive and who was experimenting on her." Hank sighed, and lowered his head. "Damn machine..."

Thinking it over for a moment, the Professor decided to handle this in an unorthodox manner. "How about this, Hank? Rather than ask who the father is, I will go about it this way. You've already said you don't think they pose a threat. Do you think the father will come looking for them?"

Hank tilted his head. "I doubt he even knows they exist. He's probably never met Elle."

"What about the man who experimented on her?"

That was a tougher question, as Hank was not an expert on this particular subject. "I don't quite know how to answer that one. I'm assuming she was held captive in the same facility that the father is somewhat infamously associated with, and by extension the leader of that program. I'm not sure if he's still active in his work. But... but I think that if the father knew that the baby existed, he'd want her and Elle to be here. This is a save haven, after all."

The Professor processed Hank's answers. Hank was a good man and if he thought Elle and Lilly were safe, then they were safe. He had his suspicions as to who might be Lilly's father, but he was not about to intrude into Hank's mind. "I think the best course of action would be to keep the information to yourself, Hank. Treat it as a matter of patient privilege. It might even be best to forget you found out, and only bring it up if Elle wishes to know Lilly's paternity. She will ask if she is ready to go that far."

"You really think keeping this secret is a good idea? What about the father, how do you think he'll react if he finds out I kept this from him?" Hank rubbed the back of his neck, slightly nervous. "I'm lying by omission..."

"But you're also protecting the wellbeing of a young mother and her child," Charles reminded him. "This poor girl never asked to become pregnant, and if what you suspect about the father is true, it sounds to me like he might be a little possessive."

Hank grimaced. "Ohh, you have no idea."

After digesting the rather peculiar look on the Beast's face, Charles nodded. "Then think how Elle would feel if she was suddenly forced into sharing her baby, or worse, being pressured into taking on a relationship she does not want with a total stranger. You weren't up here with us when she told us her story, but it was clear that Lilly is all Elle cares about in this world. She ran away from hospitals and shelters when they threatened to take the baby from her. We must respect that bond."

"I understand. I was considering deleting the results, to be honest," Hank admitted. "If you think that is an acceptable course of action, then I will do so." He thanked the Professor for his help, then returned to the med lab to secure his data. Part of him felt guilty covering it up, but on the other hand, the Professor was right. If Elle wanted to know, she would ask when the time was right. If keeping the father in the dark to protect Elle and Lilly was the right thing to do, then Hank would keep the information to himself.

* * *

A/N: Blanche-Neige is Snow White, and Jean was of course referring to the Lumiere of Disney's Beauty and the Beast. You have to agree that Remy does end up resembling him at times. XD


	4. Chapter 4

A/N: He's back... :3

* * *

A motorcycle roared up the driveway toward the garage, crunching through fallen leaves and finally stopping next to the Cajun crouched beside his own well polished machine. Remy cursed as a duffel just barely missed his head. "Hey, watch where you're dropping your cargo, _homme_. Remy didn't spend de last hour rubbin' dis scuff out, just to get hit in _la tête_ by de Wolverine's luggage! Next time, Remy gon' take dat Harley from ya!"

Logan didn't seem the least bit interested in Remy's outburst, as his eyes were on the field past the garage. Sitting in the grass on a blanket was Elle, watching Lilly as she played with some toys and a pile of leaves.

"Ah, you found a pretty distraction," Remy smirked, noting what stole Logan's attention.

"Who is that, with the baby?"

"Elle and Lilly," he explained. "Came here 'bout six months ago, after Jean found dem homeless. Real sweet, and Remy never seen a more loving mother than Elle..."

"Mother?!" Logan about flipped. "Did you say _mother_? That kid's a baby herself, for fuck's sake." He looked back at Elle, and watched her play with the baby. She was very caring, and he didn't see any resentment. He then wondered how the baby came about.

As Logan and Remy were watching, a ball rolled over toward the blanket. Elle noticed and picked it up, intending to return it to the kids it rolled away from. As soon as she touched it though, one of the students screamed at her.

"Hey, don't touch that!" The kid ran over and yanked it out of her hands. "We don't want your slutty whore germs all over our ball!"

Elle gasped and bowed her head, clearly upset by the outburst. The kid smirked, but didn't expect that the next second he'd be wrenched up by his shirt collar by a very angry Logan.

"What the hell did I just hear come out of your mouth, you little rat?" Pissed, Logan turned to the group of kids looking at him like they just got caught stealing. "You little bastards seem to have forgotten that all of you were once ostracized for being different. Well, what do you think you're doing to her now? You have no idea what kind of shit she's been through, so you have no right to judge her! If I catch any of you doing it again, you'll be running that track until your feet bleed, DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?"

Hurried cries of 'yes, Mr. Logan' followed by speed trails to shame the Roadrunner cleared the field, leaving Logan to cool down. Once he gathered his wits, he turned back and found himself awkwardly face to face with Elle. "Uh... Sorry about that. And them."

Elle smiled, and nodded. "So you're the Mr. Logan I've been warned about. They told me you were very... unique."

"Unique?" Logan couldn't help raising his brow. "How so?"

"That you were grumpy for one, a loner, and that I should probably just stay away from you," Elle chuckled. "Though that last bit might have been Mr. Summers exaggerating. Remy said you were one of the less boring ones, even if you came off as ill-tempered."

"Ill-tempered?" Logan turned toward the garage, where he could see the Cajun snickering. "Well, that's just Gumbo's opinion. His head's full of swamp water, anyway."

Elle noticed that Logan's gaze then lingered on Lilly. "I'm sorry, I've been rude for not introducing us." She picked up her daughter, who immediately started giggling. "I'm Elle, and this is Lilly. It's nice to meet you, Mr. Logan."

"Just 'Logan' is okay." Logan nodded his head, but was taken by surprise when Lilly reached out and grabbed him for a hug. "Woah, there."

"Oh, I'm sorry!" Elle moved to take Lilly back, but Logan motioned that she was fine.

"What the heck, the kid's happy."

"I'm really surprised, usually Lilly doesn't take well to other people," Elle explained. "Maybe it's your hair... She's all giggles whenever Dr. McCoy gives her exams, at least she's not pulling yours."

"I'm flattered." Logan looked Lilly over, and like most he was immediately drawn to her brilliant blue eyes. They were so sharp against her black pigtails. As he was holding her, his senses picked up on something. He wasn't sure quite what it was. Her scent didn't come off as dangerous, in fact both Lilly and her mother smelled rather pleasant. There was just a slight feeling he got from the child, enough to throw him off.

"Cute kid," Logan said, handing Lilly back to Elle. "You going solo with her?"

"...It's a long story," Elle answered, gathering her back into her arms. Logan used the opportunity to scent Elle again, and got nothing. The strange feeling was only on the baby.

"I won't pester. If those kids bother you again, let me know and I will end it." With that, Logan turned and retreated into the mansion.

* * *

Logan's last stop after checking back in with the Professor and dropping his stuff off in his room was to see Hank. The only other feral mutant in the mansion, Hank usually understood Logan's quirks or knew enough to help direct him to a resolution. Logan found the furry doctor hanging upside down from a bar on the ceiling.

"Logan, welcome back from your sojourn! How might I assist you today? Got another nanomachine stuck in your chest?"

"Very funny. I wanna talk about the new girl with the baby."

Hank dismounted from his perch, and donned his lab coat. "Ah, you mean Elle and Lilly. Yes, I believe you were absent when she first came to the mansion. Poor situation, really. Elle was imprisoned in some kind of experimentation facility since she was four years old, and managed to escape on her own when she was fifteen. She didn't know at the time though that she had been artificially inseminated with Lilly, and gave birth while homeless. She was on her own for a year after that before Jean found her."

"What the fuck?!" Logan was getting more agitated with every bit he learned about the poor girl. "...As horrible as that is, it's not what I came down here for. You're a feral, you might know this. I got some kind of weird feeling about the baby when I held her."

"Weird feeling? What do you mean?"

"It's hard to explain," Logan began. "Something about her just throws me off. It's only on the baby, too. I checked the mother, nothing. I don't think it's her scent, because she actually smells kind of nice."

"I'll have to remember that the next time someone needs a diaper change," Hank teased.

"Real cute," Logan sneered in response. "You said the baby was conceived in a lab?"

"Yes and I already checked, neither of them pose any kind of threat to the mansion." Hank sat down in a chair, and scratched his chin. "Perhaps you are picking up on some kind of instinctual need to protect the child. After all, she is an infant without a father figure to keep her safe, and you have demonstrated lupine behaviors when in your feral state. Wolves will on rare occasions look after the pups of another wolf."

Logan couldn't help rolling his eyes. "I've never done that to any of the other kids here."

"Let's see, you've picked up Rogue, Jubilee, Kitty..."

"You've made your point, furball, so I caught a few strays. This is different, though," he insisted, running a hand through his hair, before remembering how Lilly giggled at him. "Elle even said the kid didn't usually take to strangers, and she crawled all over me."

"There is one other thing it could be," Hank supposed. "Maybe you subconsciously realized that you have the same mutation."

"...What was that?"

"Elle and Lilly, they have a regenerative healing factor like you." Hank shrugged. "It's not as potent I would say, because you've had a hundred years of honing and conditioning versus Elle's seventeen, but you very well could have sensed it on the baby. Elle was captured because she was an early developed mutant. Lilly has just recently expressed her mutation, so maybe she has an unrecognized secondary mutation that I didn't catch when I tested her six months ago, and you picked up on it."

"I'm telling you, I've never picked up any of these things on any of the other children here," Logan scoffed, before getting fed up and leaving the lab.

Hank waited until Logan was long gone, before locking the lab doors. Turning to the computer, he pulled up a secured report that he hadn't opened in six months. "You're right Logan, I just wish I could tell you the real reason your senses honed in on Lilly." Lilly's paternity report popped up on the screen, and with it, a picture of the feral mutant who had stomped out of the lab.

* * *

A/N: Too obvious? XD I gave it away in the first Kozure chapter, after all... ;)


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: I may have forgotten to warn everyone, but in this what-if, Remy and Ororo are a little closer than siblings if you know what I mean. ;) I won't be in your face about it, though. Only one couple matters in this story, when they get to that point (soon).

* * *

The next morning, Logan began to get reacquainted to mansion life. The first shock he got was seeing Remy alive and mobile before noon. Usually Logan was dragging his ass out from underneath a mess of crumpled sheets and pillowcases when he didn't show up for morning training. Today he was in the kitchen, hovering over a pile of half eaten toast.

The next shock was the high chair in the kitchen, which Logan's groggy training buddy had to remind him was for the mansion's new resident baby Lilly. " _La petite_ not gonna sit on de floor, _mon ami_."

"What the hell are you doing up at 8am for, anyway?"

" _Déjeuner._ " Though with a mouthful of toast, it's a wonder Logan even understood him.

"You lose a bet?"

"Stormy wanted t'go to dinner last night, an had nobody t'go with. Den we come back."

Logan smirked, realizing the cause. Ororo always was an early riser. "Well, mornings will do ya good." He poured himself a cup of coffee, then leaned against the counter. "So tell me something Cajun, why is it you're just 'Remy', but everyone else is 'Mr.' or 'Dr.' around here? You're not making a move on mommy behind Ro's back, are you?"

Remy nearly choked from laughter in response to Logan's suspicions. "Dats a good one, _homme_. _Non_ , Remy not chasin' after poor Elle. You saw yesterday's little mess, well, it's been like dat fo'a while. Elle doesn't have any friends among those her age; it's just me, Stormy, and Jean."

"Why? Storm and Jean I get, but honestly I can't figure you out. You're not about to bow down and play house with the girls unless it gets you a night in bed."

Remy scoffed. "It's simple, _homme_. You know de other X-Men don't like Remy dat much. Who better t'know what it's like t'be an outcast than de outcast of de outcasts? Poor Elle can't make friends among the girls because dey think she's beneath them, and she can't make friends among de guys because dey see Lilly and think she's easy."

"You mean like you?"

"You wish Remy was easy," he sneered. "De only other teen who's nice to her is Jubilee. Cyclops hands out more detention than we got time for, but dey don' stop it. Mebbe now dat you threatened dem, dey'll stop. Who knows."

"They'll stop and I'll see to it," Logan mumbled under his breath. He was about to say more, but Remy shushed him and pointed to the doorway. Elle was following Lilly as she toddled into the kitchen, clutching a stuffed animal.

As soon as Lilly saw Remy, she got excited and ran over to him. "Lemmy!"

"Ah, _bonjour petite_!" Remy answered her 'pick me up' gesture with a hug, then bounced her on his leg. "You do mornings so much better den Remy, dat's fo sure."

"She's always up with the sun," Elle said as she picked out a breakfast for Lilly. "I'm not a morning person, so she definitely didn't get it from me."

Logan watched as Lilly snatched Remy's last piece of toast while he wasn't looking, then laughed as she crawled out of his lap and ran away with it. "I think you've passed on your skills without realizing it, Cajun."

Lilly was startled when she heard Logan's voice, since she didn't realize that someone else had been in the room, and dropped the toast on the floor. She started to pout, until she looked up and realized that the owner of the voice was the same man from the previous day. Excited, she ran over to Logan. "Up!"

"Up?"

"Up! UP!"

"Dat means she wants you to pick her up, _homme_ ," Remy translated, as Elle nodded. So Logan obliged, and picked her up. Lilly smiled and rubbed her head against Logan's sideburns, while Remy joked about her winning the record for taming the Wolverine.

Elle handed Lilly a sippy cup, then took up a seat across from Remy to watch the curious interaction between the two raven haired mutants. Shortly thereafter, Jean and Ororo entered the kitchen, and both did a double take as they spotted Logan leaning against the counter with Lilly.

"...I'm seeing things. It's not April 1st, is it?"

"No, Jean, I see it too. Logan holding a baby."

"Very funny, you two," he grumbled. "Next you're gonna ask to check if pigs are flying around outside. No, unfortunately I couldn't get Warren to put on a hog costume."

"Lilly wanted Logan to pick her up," Remy explained. "Surprising, seein' as how she just met him yesterday after that screamfest."

"I wondered why I suddenly had so many counseling visits," Jean mumbled.

Ororo studied Logan and Lilly for a moment, before turning to Jean. "You know Jean, I think the two of them look good together. Don't you think so, too, Elle?"

Elle glanced at Logan, before asking for clarification.

"Now that you mention it, 'Ro, they do," Jean agreed. "The two of them look so much alike, they have the same hair and eye color, even the same mutation."

"...Come on, you two," Logan chided, handing Lilly back to Elle so she could get her breakfast. "You're talking about two of the most common features on the planet, and the third which she obviously got from her mother. Jean, if you have romance on the brain that badly, you need to bring up this whole 'lack of a brood situation' with One-Eye."

Remy and Ororo stifled laughs, as Logan turned his attention to the fridge. What Logan didn't know is that Ororo had been telling Jean the same thing for months.

* * *

A/N: Thank you to sarah0406 for the review! I do have a chapter where your concerns are brought up by the characters, so I appreciate your feedback.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: Here's where "soon" becomes "kinda now". If it seems a little quick, it's because they're pretty much destined to come together. I wrote all the slow burn in Kozure and I didn't really feel like writing it again... /bad author

* * *

When Logan came back up from the basement, after reminding everyone in the Danger room of the proper manly way to disembowel a sentinel, he decided to head to the common area to relax and watch some television. This was the start of hockey season, after all. That plan was squashed, however, when he entered and saw the TV was occupied by some kind of puppet show, where a frog was currently trying to convince a child that 'cookie monster' was not actually a letter of the alphabet.

"What's this?"

"Kermit!"

Though Logan hadn't been expecting an answer, one came from the playpen set up in front of the television. Lilly looked over at him and shouted the name of the Muppet frog again, before fixing her attention right back on the TV. Even though the screen now displayed a purple vampire instead, she continued to call for the amphibian. "...No, uh, I think Kermit was the green frog."

"She calls the show 'Kermit'," Elle called from the table nearby, overhearing Logan. "I think it's a little easier to say than Sesame Street, don't you? She knows the frog is Kermit, and who Big Bird is, but I think that's it."

"Better not let her around Warren, then," he said with a laugh. Coming over to the table, Logan stood over Elle's shoulder and studied the papers she was working on. They were repetitions of simple sentences, such as 'the cat is brown' and 'the dog is heavy', along with a page of objects with blanks to fill the names in. "What's this for?"

"I'm trying to be a good mother," Elle answered, "by learning to read before the baby does."

"You can't read?"

Elle sat down her pencil, and cocked her head at the surprise on Logan's face. "...Oh, that's right, you weren't here when I told everyone. No, I was a lab rat from four until fifteen. That's basically when people learn how to do that, right?" She smiled and looked back at her papers. "The Professor said though that he thinks I have a secondary mutation that allows me to pick up and process intelligence from the people around me. It's hard to explain, but he said it's basically what helped me figure out how to escape and survive on my own, especially with Lilly to look after."

Logan took a seat across from her, intrigued by her comment. "Hank had mentioned that you were experimented on, but I didn't realize how badly it had affected you. There aren't a lot of people here that could know what being trapped like that was like, but let me tell ya, kid, you're looking at one."

He then propped his elbow up on the table, and slowly brought forth his adamantium claws. Elle's eyes widened at the sight of the deadly metal, though Logan didn't sense any fear coming from her. That was a good sign. "Didn't always have metal covering these. A real bastard of a man took me and did that. Put me through a lot of pain and screwed up an already messed up mind. I can't tell ya how many people I slashed up escaping from that place. Point is though, I got out, and started to put it all behind me."

Elle looked over at Lilly, then down at the table. "Sometimes I wonder what might have happened if I hadn't gotten out when I did. What they would have done to me, or worse, to her. And now that I know a little more about what mutants are, it does scare me a little to know that she could have another mutation hidden in her that might make her a target when she expresses it in the future."

Logan interrupted Elle, by placing his hand overtop hers in comfort. "Hey, you don't have anything to be afraid about. It's safe here, no one gets past that front gate without Chuck or one of the others knowing about it. Second, you've got an almost invincible 300 pound bear of a mutant here to look after the two of you. I'd like to see those bastards just try and come take Lilly away, it won't be pretty."

From over in the hallway, Scott and Jean watched Elle and Logan smiling at each other, and Scott couldn't help shaking his head. "Wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong."

Jean couldn't help ribbing her husband. "Oh, come on Scott, they're cute together. Maybe she can help calm him down, make him into that responsible team member _who actually sticks around_ that you've been hoping for."

"He's got to be a hundred years older than her!"

"They're regenerates, that's like saying they're five or ten years apart."

"...But I still think it's wrong!"

* * *

Halloween night came around, and most of the mansion's residents had vacated to solicit candy from strangers while dressed in colorful costumes. Logan sat on the front stoop with his beer, watching in amusement as Bobby, Rogue, and Piotr covered the front trees with toilet paper. The Professor may have given them permission, but he wondered if they realized that permission included clean-up duty as well.

As Logan was watching the pranksters, he felt something crash into him from behind. He dropped his beer and turned around, finding a little gray wolf staring at him with her bright blue eyes. They studied each other for a few seconds, until the little wolf barked.

"Woof!"

"...Woof?"

"I think she's trying to say 'wolf'." Elle appeared holding a basket, and wearing a cream empire waist dress and red cape. "You know, Red Riding Hood and the Big Bad Wolf?"

Logan couldn't help whistling as he spotted Elle. She looked pretty good in that thin little getup. He scooped up Lilly and moved in, using his free hand to brush a bit of hair from Elle's shoulder. "I know the story... But see, this one here's only a cub, and she lead you to the real thing."

Elle smirked, and wrapped her hands around Logan's waist. "My, Logan, what big blue eyes you have."

He smirked, showing his sharp canines. "The better to see you with, of course."

"And what big sharp claws you have."

"The better to keep you safe, my dear."

Elle batted her eyelashes, before murmuring, "and what a big mouth you have..."

"All the better to do this," Logan grinned, before gently pulling Elle's lips to meet his own. Elle cooed and leaned into the kiss, tightening her grip around his waist. Logan let out a satisfied purr as both girls clung to him, though he broke the kiss in surprise when Lilly started imitating the two adults by smooching his cheek.

"Ah, hey! Little wolf, stop!"

"No!"

Elle had been giggling as Logan pretended to fight the smooches, but now she erupted into outright laughter.

"What's so funny?" he demanded.

"...That was her first no. She told the Wolverine no."

Logan groaned, and out of the corner of his eye he caught Bobby watching them. Great, by tomorrow morning everyone in the mansion would know that Logan turned town a baby.

* * *

A/N: The sketch Lilly is watching is a real sketch, and it's one of my favorites. "ABCDEF COOKIE MONSTER!" :3


	7. Chapter 7

A/N: No offense is intended to those readers who celebrate Boxing Day. :3

* * *

December had arrived in the Westchester mansion, and the place was decorated with many fine symbols of the holidays. A large Christmas tree was placed in the common area, a lovely menorah was set up for Kitty and Peter right across from it, and Ororo arranged a kinara and mat in the entrance hall for those who celebrated Kwanzaa and preferred not to mix the holiday symbols. Of course, all these things were set up at least three feet off the ground, because _someone_ had recently decided everything was for climbing. The last holiday represented was Boxing Day, which as a joke Remy made a Charlie Brown tree from a hockey stick and placed it next to the TV, all for the mansion's resident Canadian.

Said Cajun whistled as he walked down the hall, carrying a large potted holly plant that Ororo had instructed him to place in the common area. He wasn't surprised to see Logan camped out on the couch with a six pack, after all it was the middle of hockey season. What did surprise him was the little pigtailed lump sleeping in Logan's lap.

" _Mon ami_ , are you aware _l'enfant_ is napping on your lap?" He looked around, before adding, "Remy don' see Elle around, neither."

"She went with Jean to do some Christmas shopping and girl stuff. Lil and I stayed here to watch the game," Logan answered, glaring when Remy swiped one of the beers and plopped down on the opposite end of the couch. He was still trying to come up with an appropriate 'thank you' for Gumbo's smartass hockey tree. Maybe he'd convince 'Ro to take away his cigarettes. Smoking's bad for those without a healing factor...

"You guys have gotten awful close, Remy thinks. Didn' know Wolverine would make such a good _père_. Have kids before?"

" _No_." That came out as more of a growl than Logan intended, and accidentally stirred Lilly. He gently rubbed her back and made cooing noises, and she quickly fell back asleep.

"...Coulda fooled me." Remy smirked, and downed part of his beer. "Y'know _homme_ , not sayin' dis cause everyone else is, but you ever stop t' think bout how much Lilly resembles you? Seriously?"

"...What's your point?"

"Point is, Stormy said Elle came from a place up north. Dere can't be too many places doin' dat kinda stuff up in de same place you came from, _d'accord_?"

Logan swirled his beer around as he pondered the Cajun's words. Of course he was aware of how closely Lilly resembled him. Aside from Jean and Ororo constantly reminding him, the clues were hard to miss. Lilly still had Elle's round chin and plump cheeks, but the shape of her brow and her nose really started to resemble his own. The little canines she had recently erupted were insanely sharp like his, and despite hating strangers, she took to him within moments of their introduction.

Lilly even had his exact same eye color. Logan had waited to see if her eyes would change, as most babies' eyes do, but Lilly's had stayed the same cobalt color as his own. Add that to the hair, the facial features, and what Remy now informed him was a high probability of imprisonment in the same Alkali Lake facility, and you have far more than coincidence.

"Let's say I have thought about it," he answered, before finishing the lukewarm beer. "What do you expect me to do, then?"

Remy shrugged his shoulders. "Dunno, mebbe you help Elle raise the little tot? Remy know you care 'bout Elle, heck, whole mansion know you care 'bout Elle. Kid's gonna be _deux_ in April, and mommy'll need all de help she can get when it's time for de rough stuff. Stormy and Jean'll help her wit' the technicals like potty training, but she ain't gonna want emotional support from dem."

"That's an awful lot of words for what you're hinting at," Logan grumbled. "You think I should be the father Lilly doesn't have."

"It's certainly in the cards, _mon ami_ , even if she ain't really yours."

Logan leaned back, and looked at Lilly curled up in his lap. "...Yeah, I suppose it is."

* * *

Hank knew what Logan wanted before the smaller man even opened his mouth. "Hey Furball, I need to talk to you about Li-"

"No."

"No?"

"No, I am not going to talk to you about this," Hank declared, sitting down his clipboard and shutting off the burner on his latest experiment. "I know what you want, and it is not my place to discuss this with you."

Logan crossed his arms and pulled forth one of his trademark glares. "Why the hell not?"

"Because I am Elle's doctor, and what you are asking borders on a violation of patient confidentiality," he explained.

"You didn't even let me open my mouth enough to ask you anything!" Logan growled, suspicious of Hank's behavior. "You know something I don't, furball?"

"I don't need to be a telepath like Charles to know you think you might be Lilly's father," Hank admitted, knowing he had to tread carefully. Logan could tell whenever someone was lying by the change in their scent, so depending on how the conversation went, Hank might betray Elle's confidence. He had admitted that he had the ability to find out Lilly's paternity back when she first came to the mansion, but Elle had decided that she did not want to know who Lilly's father was. If Logan kept prying, it could get ugly.

"I understand you care about the two of them, but in the scheme of things, you're a stranger prying into that little girl's affairs," Hank warned. "If you're so concerned about Lilly's parentage, why don't you stop going behind Elle's back and just talk to her? Regardless of what you do, no one is finding anything out from me."

Logan considered the other man's advice, then turned and left without a word.


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Okay, here's the "serious" chapter, where the adult conversation goes down. Some implied adult situations near the end.

* * *

Elle was snoozing over her laundry basket when the knock on the door came, so she hurriedly wiped the drool from her face and ran to answer it. "Yes? Oh, hi Logan..." She blushed when she realized that she had been wearing only a camisole and some tiny PJ shorts, which he immediately noticed. "Uh... Wanna come in?"

"Sure," he answered with a smile, stepping into the small room. Elle's room was a little unusual, in that it was actually a dorm room meant for two occupants. Since it was intended for faculty, it already had a private bathroom and spared her from running down the hall. What Scott had done when assigning it to her was remove the shelving divisions in the walk in closet, creating a little bedroom for the baby.

Elle cleared a space for Logan to sit on the bed, then started hunting for her robe. "You don't have to do that," he urged, smiling as Elle's quick movements made her hair flit about her bare shoulders and neck. "Nothing sticking out to be ashamed of."

"...Oh, alright, if I'm not offending you or anything." Elle nervously sat at the opposite end of the bed, before springing back up. "You want a glass of water or something?"

"I want you to relax," Logan said, and with a chuckle, grabbed her and pulled her into his lap. "Yer runnin round like I'm gonna bite you or something. That's not why I came over."

"...Why did you come over? It's a little late," she replied, glancing over at the clock. "You usually go out to Harry's with Kurt or Remy when he's allowed out."

Logan was surprised she knew his routine, but then again he had been basically seeing her since October. There was a little resistance to that at first, mainly from Scott, but he didn't care. He liked her and she liked him, that's what mattered. "I came over to talk. Something's been biting me and I need to air it out. It's not too late for ya, is it?"

Elle shook her head. She was always burdening Logan with her and Lilly's problems, so if he had something on his mind, the least she could do was help him get through it. "I'm all yours. What's wrong?"

"I've been thinking about Lilly," he admitted, drawing lazy circles into her thigh. "She's an adorable kid, and I can tell she's gonna grow up to be a great member of society. It's just, when I look at her anymore, I can't help but think of the way she was conceived."

There was a moment of silence, before Elle quietly asked, "Does that make you think any less of her?"

"Absolutely not," he answered, looking her in the eyes. "What I mean is, Remy told me that you came from a facility in the north. _I_ came from a facility in the north, Elle. I don't think Jean and Ro are just heart-eyed when they say that Lil looks exactly like me. What if whoever impregnated you used my DNA to do it? It would explain why Lil looks just like me, why she clung to me from day one, and why I've always felt this strange sense when I'm around her."

"...What are you saying?"

"Maybe we should run a test to see who Lilly's father is," he suggested, gathering her hands in his. "It's very likely you and I escaped from the same facility, especially since we have the same mutation. Then you'd know for sure, and you wouldn't have to worry anymore about any surprises in her future."

Elle bowed her head, and after a while turned away from Logan. When he realized he had upset her, he started rubbing her back to console her. "Elle? Elle, I'm sorry if I spoke out of line. I didn't mean to pry..."

"Dr. McCoy told me once that he could find out who her father was. I said no." Elle got out of Logan's lap, and walked over to the window. "There were a number of reasons I declined at the time, most of which boiled down to being afraid of who it was. There's a different reason now, though, and I don't want to take a test because of it."

"And what's that reason?"

Elle took a deep breath, then said, "I'm afraid the test will say that you're _not_ her father." Logan was up at her side in an instant, rubbing soothing circles into her back as she continued. "You were right, it's hard to ignore everyone's speculation. But that's not why I'm scared. You've become a real father figure to Lilly; standing up for us, taking care of her, teaching her things... It's obvious she loves you, the other day when she woke up, she even called you 'Daddy' by accident."

Logan stopped rubbing Elle's back, and gripped her shoulder. "She... she did?"

"Yes, I was dressing her and said we were going to see you. She responded with 'see Daddy'. I was too shocked to correct her." She shrugged, then added, "Isn't this a sign? I know we've only known each other for a short time, but she's already decided that you're important to her. From how you were talking just now, you feel the same way. I don't want to take a test that has the potential to screw this all up. I'd rather just keep playing pretend."

Logan pulled Elle to his chest, and tucked her head against his neck. "Listen to me, Elle. I don't care what any test says, I love that kid like she was my own. I'd love her even if she turned out to be Creed's kid, which I know ain't true because he's as ugly as a sodden boot. But let me tell you now, if the two of you think I'm good enough to be Lil's daddy without needing a test, then I'm gonna be the best daddy in this entire mansion. Forget I even brought the damn thing up."

Satisfied, Elle closed her eyes and enjoyed the warmth of Logan's embrace. After several minutes they heard a whimper from the other room, which soon became an all out fuss.

"Teething," Elle explained, as the cries continued through the door gap.

"Let me." Logan entered Lilly's room and scooped her from her bed, rubbing her cheek and cooing to coax her back to sleep. He picked up her teddy bear from the floor and tucked her back in, waiting a few extra minutes before leaving. When he came back out and saw the grin on Elle's face, he knew he did a good job.

"That's the fastest she's ever gotten back to sleep," Elle purred, and as a reward, leaned over and kissed the hollow of Logan's neck. He let out a growl of contentment in return, and snuck his hands up the back of her camisole.

"You know, it's getting rather late, maybe I need to tuck this girlie into bed, too..."

The blush that filled Elle's cheeks was brighter than any shade of rouge on the market. "You know, um, even though I have Lilly, I never... did... that..."

"You're a strong girl, Elle," Logan praised as the two of them made their way to the bed. He knew a lot of runaways who were forced to sell themselves to survive, and was glad she never went down that path. "Like I said before, you've got nothing to be ashamed of. I'll be sure to keep the other guy under control until I've covered all the basics. He can get a little feisty when it comes to playtime with his mate."

Elle chuckled as she turned off the light. "So, anything else I should know before I let the Wolverine into my bed?"

"Your bedroom is next to One-Eye's, right?" Elle's nod drew forth a wicked grin. "I'll try to keep the noise down. Wouldn't want to keep him up _all_ night..."

* * *

A/N: Not to be a perv, but you know what probably angers Scott more than the lack of sleep is that Jean secretly enjoys those late night erotic disruptions. XD


	9. Chapter 9

A/N: This is pretty much just a silly fill in chapter. The next chapter is rather important to the story, so I didn't want to preface it with the small portion of this chapter that I had, but this wasn't long enough to publish on its own. So I padded it. Hence the goofiness.

* * *

"Happy Birthday Lilly!"

There was not a lot of interest in the adults wishing two year old Lilly a happy birthday. Instead Lilly immediately broke free of her place of honor atop Mommy's lap, and made a beeline for the pile of presents in shiny paper on the other end of the table. Just as she was about to collide with an unaware Piotr, she was scooped up into the air by her savior.

"Daddy! Down!"

"Watch where you're goin, kiddo, Colossus'll turn you into a pancake with those solid steel feet of his in no time." Logan deposited Lilly in front of the presents as Piotr rattled off a million apologies, few of which made it into his ears. Elle assured him it was not his fault, and soon everything was forgotten as bows and wrappers were flung into the air.

Lilly seemed more fascinated by the wrappers than the contents, so Elle had to assist her with unwrapping her presents. There were coloring books from Piotr, puzzles from Hank, toys from Jubilee and Remy, clothes from Ororo, and some new ABC books from Jean. Lilly had already gotten her present from Mommy and Daddy, and of course loved her new Kermit doll. The last box stumped her, though. It made a jingly noise when she picked it up, so she got really excited, but then when Mommy opened it, inside was just a pair of old keys. Lilly was one of the few babies on the planet that didn't like keys.

"Oi, what's the deal?" Logan got up from the couch, and snatched the box from Elle. "Hey, One-Eye, you were too cheap to get my kid a real present, you had to pull a rusty pair of keys from your pen drawer? I'll remember that when it's YOUR turn!"

"Calm down, Logan, that present's for the three of you," Charles explained, before the next mutant civil war began. "Scott and I thought that since you and Elle have moved forward in your relationship, it's time you stop having to share her little room. I had one of the suites on the third floor remodeled for you, giving Lilly a proper room to grow into."

Elle was nearly in tears, and hugged the Professor and Scott in thanks. Logan was equally impressed, and gave Scott a pat on the back. "Wow, didn't know you cared that much about us, Scooter. Thanks."

"Well, I was having trouble getting a good night's sleep since you moved in," he started to reply, though the glare he got from Jean convinced him to change direction. "You're welcome, Logan. There's a new convertible toddler-to-twin bed waiting in the room as well, a present from Kurt since he's away."

"Guess I'll have to go easy on the elf at our next pool game," Logan chuckled.

After the excitement died down and the room cleared, Remy plopped down on the couch next to Logan as he watched Elle and Lilly playing with her new toys. "So, _mon ami_ , she likes her Daddy, _non_?"

"You better believe it, bub."

"It's good, Remy thinks. Better to have dis bond now, den later when you have to think 'bout what came before. To get serious for a bit, I remember what it was like before _mon père_ pluck me from the streets. Not a life I recommend living, even for my enemies."

"At least you remember that far back," Logan admitted. "What I remember are glimpses. I know my real name, but you can say so-and-so was my father and I'm not going to know who you're talking about. The snow was my father, for all I care. I tell you now, though, whether she's my blood or not, Lil's not going through that."

Remy smiled, and patted his friend on the back. "You're a good man, _mon ami_."

"Yeah, well, don't tell anybody. Can't let them think I'm goin' soft."

" _Au contraire_ , you fucking scary now. Remy pity de po' _hommes_ dat come lookin t'date _Mademoiselle_ Lilly. You gonna skewer dem before dey get de chance t'break her heart."

"Damn right."

"...Mebbe she should go for de _femmes_. Less hassle."

Logan couldn't help but laugh. "Do you ever listen to what comes out of your mouth?"

"What? Dey much cuter and dey not macho."

"Lil can decide for herself who she brings home for me to threaten," he said, putting his feet on the table. "Who knows, by then she might even be tough enough to make own threats."

* * *

"This is huge! Is it really all for us?" Elle marveled at the complexity of their new suite, as it was nearly a house within a house. The main door opened into a small room that could be used as a play or TV room, with the master bedroom on one side and Lilly's room on the other. The windows even opened onto a small balcony overlooking the estate.

"Yup, and the only others on this floor are Gumbo and 'Ro at the other end. We're free to make as much noise as we want." Logan snickered, tickling Lilly's chin and getting an equally evil sounding giggle in return. "That also means there's plenty of empty rooms for the eventual _expansion_ of the family..."

" _No._ " Elle came over and took Logan's partner in crime from his arms, earning two disappointing pouts. "I intend to be well into my twenties _at least_ before I start this adventure over again. Now go downstairs and start bringing up some of our things."

"You sure? Wouldn't it be fun to-"

"Sure, I'll go talk to Hank. I'm sure the world is ready for pregnant men. You'd be the perfect specimen!" Elle's laughter followed Logan as he stomped down the hall.

* * *

A/N: No, I'm not going to make Logan get pregnant. XD But I read a really funny shortfic once where Ororo got him pregnant and it was hilarious.

There will be one more chapter and then the epilogue. They are written but the one is still a little rough.


	10. Chapter 10

A/N: Last chapter before the epilogue! I enjoyed writing this story, especially because cute and fluffy is my usual genre. Plus Logan in domestic situations is always a riot. You don't expect the X-Men's killing machine to be docile.

* * *

Tossing and turning in her bed, eight year old Lilly was caught in the throes of a horrible nightmare. Behind her eyes she saw terrible things happening to her mother Elle, who was currently eight months pregnant with her new sibling. Lilly had been looking forward to being a big sister for so long, and now that it was almost time, her anxiety was on overdrive. In the nightmare she saw everything from anti-mutant protesters attacking the mansion, to Magneto coming out of retirement and going rogue, to even Elle falling down the stairs and crushing the baby.

When Lilly finally woke with a strangled scream, she felt like her body was on fire. She was sweating all over, her heart rate was through the roof, and her hands felt sticky. The sheets were everywhere for some reason, and when she tried to untangle herself, she immediately froze. The pain she had felt from her body being on fire had a cause, and she immediately screamed at the top of her lungs.

Logan was awake the instant he heard Lilly screaming, and he leapt out of bed and ran to her door, popping his claws along the way. Normally he slept in the nude, but once Elle had hit the eighth month of her pregnancy, he went to bed in shorts in case something came up. This was not what he had in mind, though, detecting the terror in Lilly's shrieks. How had something gotten through security? He was ready to impale whoever hurt her the second he threw open her door, but stopped dumbstruck at what he saw.

Lilly was sitting upright on the bed, staring in horror at her bloody hands. Right on the back of her palms, right between her knuckles, were three thin bone claws, just like his own before the adamantium. He immediately leaned back on the door frame and began laughing, causing Lilly to stare at him through her tears as though he'd gone mad.

"Logan, Lilly? What's wrong?" When Elle arrived and saw her husband laughing like a fool at her daughter's trauma, she was horrified. "You asshole! Move!" Logan stepped aside to let his very mad and very pregnant wife through, and watched as she sat on the bed cradling her daughter as best she could.

"Mama, what happened to me...? Why is Daddy laughing?"

"He's laughing because he's an idiot," Elle explained, gently picking up one of Lilly's hands and inspecting the claws poking through her skin. She gave a faint smile, and rubbed at the last piece of the uncertainty puzzle. It was time to come clean to their daughter, and lay everything out. "Honey, you know how I told you we got married when you were four?"

"Yeah... You said sometimes parents have babies before they're married."

"And you know how in Professor Xavier's Mutant Relations class that at times, mutants and humans don't always get along? That sometimes, humans do bad things to mutants?"

Lilly lowered her head. "...Yes. That's what my bad dream was about. I was really afraid that something would happen to the baby, that they would do bad things to it. And then when I woke up, I had these things on my hands."

"You got them from your Daddy," Elle explained. "He had bone claws too, just like yours, except that he was captured by the bad people. They put metal on his claws before he escaped. Do you understand?"

"Uh-huh."

"The same bad people that captured him, also captured me when I was a little girl. I was captured for a long time, before I escaped. After I escaped, that's when I had you."

"Okay."

"But listen to me, baby." Elle smoothed out Lilly's hair, and lifted her chin. "I didn't meet your Daddy until after I already had you. Your Aunt Jean found us at the mall, saved us from some bad people, and brought us to live here at the mansion because we didn't have anywhere to go. After that, I met Logan."

Lilly tilted her head, trying to understand. "But Mommy, he's my Daddy."

"Yes, he is. He's raised you since you were a baby."

"So how could he be my Daddy if you didn't meet him until after I was born?"

Elle looked over to Logan for advice, but he still had the shit eating grin on his face from earlier and would be no help. "...The stork put you in my tummy before I escaped from the bad people. When I met Logan and fell in love with him, we just knew he was your Daddy because you look exactly like him and because his senses picked up on you. Only we just didn't know for sure. The reason Logan is laughing now though, is because those claws prove you are his daughter. RIGHT?"

Logan finally broke from his stupor enough to come sit by his family's side, and picked up one of Lilly's hands. "I haven't seen them like this in so long, I almost forgot what they looked like," he mumbled with a grin, running a thumb along one of the bony protrusions.

"Well? Tell her what they are!" Elle urged, hormones raging.

"They're bone, sharp as hell, and they prove you're mine," he said, kissing Lilly's forehead.

Lilly winced as Logan felt along her wrist. "It hurts."

"I'm guessing because your wrist is so small, shoving all three through at once is putting a strain on the tissue. When you use them, you'll probably have to keep the middle inside."

"Can you show her how to get them back in?" Elle asked, as she wiped the blood from Lilly's hands and arms.

Logan nodded, kissing Elle and rubbing her stomach. "I'll take care of her. The two of you go back to bed, the last thing we need tonight is a surprise early visitor from the stress."

"Oh please, your first kid didn't come out until the day before the hospital was going to induce me, and I didn't even go in until a few days before that. I think this one's good for a little longer." Elle couldn't help teasing. Logan may have made a new discovery tonight, but in her mind, there was never an alternative. Lilly had always been his. With a comforting hug, Elle bid Lilly goodnight and left Logan to bond with their daughter.

* * *

The next morning, when everyone was gathered for breakfast, Logan announced that they had something to share with the team. Remy stopped making silly faces with Jean and Scott's three year old daughter Rachael, and immediately started prying. "What is it, _mon ami_? We having twins?"

"What?! No!" There was a pause as Elle and Logan both went white, then a glance to Hank for confirmation. "...Right?"

"I am fairly certain there is only going to be one baby born within the next month, Logan." The blue doctor couldn't help joining in with the chuckles going around the room. "Besides, mommy would have been able to feel long before now the effects of having more than one."

"No more baby talk, you'll make me think these false contractions are real," Elle grumbled, stuffing herself into a cushy chair that Kurt teleported in from the common area. While Hank made sure that everything was okay with her, Logan brought Lilly forward.

"The announcement concerns Lilly," Logan picked up where he left off. "We had a little discovery last night, in case anyone heard the commotion." He then turned to her, and crouched down to her level. "Okay Lil, breathe nice and easy, take it slow, and think of how nice it'd be to turn One-Eye into a pincushion."

"WHAT?! Logan!"

"Don't mind him, kiddo, just go ahead." Lilly smiled at her father, then focused on her hands just like he taught her last night. Slowly, and with just a little pain, the outside claws on each hand emerged. Keeping the middle retracted helped like Logan theorized, but there would still be some wrist pain until her body got used to expelling and withdrawing them.

There were plenty of wide eyes and awes from those in attendance, and even a few claps to make Lilly feel less awkward about her new mutation. Though, Logan's real intentions for showing Lilly off hadn't seemed to be grasped by the crowd quite yet. That is, except by a certain blue beast. Elle was the first one to notice the strange grin on Hank's face, though she brushed it off as the Professor began to speak.

"Lilly, my congratulations on developing a secondary mutation! It is common for mutants your age to start expressing their gifts, but we weren't sure if you were going to develop a second power since you already have your mother's healing abilities. Now it looks as though you have your father's skeletal projections as well. Most impressive!"

"Yeah, and you know what that means, Chuck?" Patented Wolverine Grin #11 made a rare happy appearance, creeping out half the room. "That means that Lil is my kid. MY kid! Hear that, furball? Guess your little theories way back when were wrong!"

Hank nodded, and stood from his chair. "Logan, Elle, I have a confession to make."

Elle raised an eyebrow, while Logan scowled. "What do you mean, confession? Don't tell me you really were keeping something from me all those years ago?" The urge to snikt was overwhelming, but luckily Remy and Jean were both projecting peaceful thoughts.

"I told you back then, I was bound by patient privilege _not_ to discuss this with you. But, since it's out now, I may as well confess. ...I knew the whole time," he admitted.

"You WHAT?!"

"Logan, please calm down," Charles urged, sensing an impending blowout. "You've been Lilly's father for the last six years, does the biological side really matter? Do you suddenly love Lilly more because she's legitimate?"

Logan scoffed at the term. "That's horseshit."

"Language..."

"Sorry, Jean."

"Then the matter is settled," Charles declared. "To tell the truth, though, I don't believe there was any doubt that you were her father, Logan. There are just too many similarities."

"We had it called from the first time he held her," Ororo chimed in, making Elle smile from the recollection and doing her best to stir the conversation in a happy direction.

"I'm honestly surprised Hank managed to keep it a secret," Jean mused, "especially with me around the lab. I've picked up so many of his stray thoughts, it's embarrassing. Do you have any idea how much he loves twinkies?"

The whole room laughed, causing Hank to grumble in response. "Well, even if Lilly didn't have his claws, it would have come out sooner or later. Especially if the new baby had been a girl, the resemblance would've been uncanny. Then he'd really suspect!"

Logan's brow twitched, but he let the doctor go about his business. Excitement over for the morning, everyone began readying for another day of learning at the School for Gifted Youngsters. Elle had a prenatal checkup with Hank, and then of course the scientist wanted to get a good look at Lilly's new claws. Logan kissed them both, and promised to behave while they were gone.

After a pat on the back from Remy and an agreement to meet in the Danger Room later, Logan was left to ponder the morning's developments. So Hank knew the whole time. Meh, Logan decided it wasn't anything to fret about. He'd have a nice long talk with him later about yanking his chain, but for now he was much more intrigued by something else the doctor had said this morning. _If the new baby had been a girl..._ Logan knew what he heard. Hank just let it slip that they were having a boy. Grinning to his ears, he started running through all the fun he was going to have with his little guy.

Scott noticed the devilish grin, as he stopped back in for Rachael's forgotten teddy bear. "What's got you in such a good mood?"

"Oh, nuthin' much. You think three is too young to start combat training?"

"...Are, are you asking if I'm going to make Rachael-"

"Naw, I'd better wait 'til I see what he can do. 'Course if he heals like his mother, maybe I can start kendo and judo when he's fiveish... and Gumbo probably wouldn't mind hanging around if I let him show off his bojutsu. Yeah, think I'll do that."

The leader of the X-Men scratched his temple, as he watched Logan continue mumbling to himself with abandon. Mid-thought, the soon to be father of two got up and wandered out, never even bothering to get Scott's answer.

 _Scott, Mr. Cuddles?_

"Coming, honey," he answered Jean aloud, shaking his head. He never thought he'd see the day _Logan_ , of all people, settled down.

* * *

A/N: I have the visual of Peter Griffin in the delivery room when Meg is born, holding all the sports equipment and asking if the doctor can "check again" when he says it's a girl. Imagine Logan's disappointment if that were the case. Hank would definitely be clawed. XD The bouncing blue beast is safe, though. Funny he kept that other secret so long, but couldn't keep this one for even six months. ;)

Patented Wolverine Grin #11 is actually the face he's making on the cover of Wolverine 1:1. You know, the one where he's grinning and making the "come here" gesture? I didn't realize that was drawn by Frank Miller at first, because I'm so used to his later work. I recommend picking up the Wolverine TPB, it's a good read and it is different from the movie (everything is nowadays).

One last note, regarding Lilly and her claws. She's basically going to use them the way Laura/X-23 uses hers (except no silly toe claw). She'll use either the two outer claws or the single inner claw at once. She can use all three at the same time if she dislocates the hell out of her wrists, but it's a mess to get them back in her arm so she prefers not to do so. Oh, and don't think Daddy is going to neglect her because he's got a son on the way. Someone has to show her how to use those claws, and there's a whole Danger Room full of robots to smash up. :3


	11. Epilogue

Remy leaned against an AC unit on the roof, enjoying one of his contraband 'cancer sticks' as Ororo would call them. She had implored him to quit for their family's sake, also because smoking was a bad influence on the students, and he had largely complied. But being around 'Logan the smokestack' put a real strain on his resolve, hence the occasional trip to the roof. At least he was down to a few smokes a month.

While contemplating how to get the smell from his clothes, Remy heard a small commotion coming from the other part of the roof. So, someone found his hiding spot. Well, he had been coming up here for the last twenty five years, someone was bound to take it over sooner or later.

Remy didn't mean to pry, but his years as a thief made eavesdropping second nature. And from the sound of it, it was a pair of kids fooling around. "Heh, Remy not one to interrupt _l'amour_ ," he mumbled to himself, and turned to leave.

"Mmm, _ma petite fleur_..."

Remy stopped dead in his turn. Only one other person in the mansion spoke French like that- his sneaky, suave, chip off the old block teenage son. And as impressed as the Cajun was with the boy's exploits, Ororo would kill both of them if she found out he knew about this and didn't do anything to stop it.

The nervous father poked his head around the corner, ready to discreetly break up the fun, when he blanched. "Etienne David LeBeau!"

Etienne jumped about a foot in the air, the same time his lady companion shrieked and moved to cover her bare chest. Etienne snapped his red on black eyes to the source of the disruption and groaned, finding a matching pair of eyes scowling back at him. "Papa..."

" _Qu'est-ce que vous foutez?!_ You tryin' ta get yo' _père_ killed?" Remy pulled at his hair, now peppered with strands of silver. His eyes moved from his son, who wasn't in any hurry to button up his shirt, to the girl scrambling to get her top back on. " _Mon Dieu_ , dis mean de end fo' Remy. Kanani Jean Howlett, yo' papa gonna kill him!"

Of all the girls for his son to be caught fooling around with, it just had to be Logan's youngest daughter. Suddenly being electrocuted by Ororo for smoking wasn't looking so bad after all.

"What's the big deal, Papa?" Etienne shrugged, lazily buttoning enough to make himself decent. "It's not like I was forcing her. And besides, you and Logan are, like, bromates."

"Bromate? What is dis 'bromate'? It sounds like somethin unhealthy." Remy furrowed his brow, making Kanani giggle. He refused to admit he was getting too old to understand teenage lingo. "De two of you, get downstairs NOW, before your mothers find out what been going on. Kanani, you not even sixteen yet!"

"Papa, leave her alone," Etienne grumbled, a hint of protective anger showing on his face. "You know you were about the same age when you started, and Mama was even younger."

That brought a scowl to Remy's face, though it was more out of possessiveness for his wife than anything else. He shook it off, and gave the teens a smile. "Aw, _mes petits_ , you know Remy not angry wit de two of you. But dere t'ree others who gonna react pretty sharply t'dis when dey find out. Four now dat I tink bout it, _ton frère_ an' his sharp black claws..."

"Aren't you guys always telling us not to care about how others react?" Kanani spoke up, interrupting Remy's shiver and looking up at him with her big green eyes. And that's when he realized that she was right. Logan would be pissed, but it wasn't his place to interfere.

"You got your mama's smarts along wit' her looks, _chere_ , and dis Cajun lucky you tink his knucklehead is worthy of attention." Remy grabbed Etienne, and for emphasis, noogied his golden brown hair.

"Ah, _je me rends_ , I surrender! Stop or I'll tell Mama you were smoking again!"

Remy let go in an instant. " _Non_! She said next time, she gon' tell Nadhari. Dat happens, you gon' hafta explain why New York under a foot o' rainfall cause de cryin' ten year old got Mama's gifts but don' know how ta disconnect 'em from her feelings yet. Don'. Tell. Mama!"

Down in the access stairwell, Logan and his son Akira listened to the entire conversation, grins on both their faces.

"Should we tell them we already knew about Nani?"

"Naw, let Gumbo sweat it out. This is much better payback for that damn hockey tree."

"...What hockey tree?"

* * *

A/N: Ha, didn't expect that brick joke, did ya? ;)

I thought of this little epilogue because I liked the idea of Remy having a kid that turned out to be exactly like him, then I thought "what if they caught Etienne fooling around with one of Logan's daughters?" :D Originally I was going to have Logan flip shit about it, but then I realized he would smell the boy all over her the minute they started hooking up. Plus I'm sure he's a lot cooler with his daughter picking Gumbo and Ro's boy than some of the alternatives. Especially anyone with the last name of Summers. XD

Kanani got her name from one of my dolls, and looks just like her mother. Akira is pretty much my homage to Daken, black claws and all. I think his character design is awesome, but since the circumstances that led to Daken's birth didn't happen in this story, I snuck him in via Akira. Remy's daughter Nadhari only got a mention, but she inherited her mother's priestess features.

 _(ma petite fleur = my little flower; Qu'est-ce que vous foutez?! = What are you doing?!; ton frère = your brother; je me rends = I surrender)  
_


End file.
